Brother Builds Sibling a Halo-Inspired Radiator Cover

Well, here's a glowing example of brotherly love. The0ldMan's younger brother expressed a desire to cover up an unsightly and unused radiator within his room with the request it just be something "futuristic". Taking a cue from the angular sci-fi art direction from Halo and Mass Effect, big brother got to convertingthe radiator into a useful bedside console (the furnishing, not the gaming platform) for under $50...

The radiator cover was all planned out in advance using a 3D illustration application.

My brother recently painted his bedroom and asked if I could design and build a radiator cover for him. He wanted it to look futuristic. I came up with this shape because it reminded of something from Halo or Mass Effect, but I don't know exactly what inspired it.

Originally it would have a screen, and I suggested some hexagonal perforated sheet metal, but it's about $100 to get a piece delivered that's big enough to do it seamlessly. Big box stores have perforated sheet metal in 3'x3' sheets, but the cover is over 4 feet wide, so that wouldn't work with the design. And the $100 was out of the budget. But I told him that hexagons would look the most futuristic, and I wanted to light it from inside with some greed LED strips.

Total: $33 for plywood, about $12 for bracket hardware, and some leftover paint. Not bad for a weekend project pieced together by two siblings, and the cover not only covers a non-used eyesore, but provides additional shelf space (here are a few more DIY examples without the gaming motif).

For further information and photos illustrating how this radiator cover was made, check out The0ldMan's Imgur page.